Cinema Tuesdays Review

Having a Ball
By Nathan Cone

Let's go ahead and put this out there, up front: all of the women in the documentary "Paris Is Burning" are guys. And some of them are really good looking!

A true documentary in the sense that it captures a time and place, "Paris Is Burning" is about the New York drag balls of the late 1980s. On the commentary track that is included on the recently released DVD, director Jennie Livingston notes she has miles of footage that couldn't be included in the final film that she plans to donate to a university library. That's good, as "Paris Is Burning" is a film that is both a valuable piece of history, and an entertaining movie.

A relatively short feature, "Paris Is Burning" blazes through all manner of dress-up and dance styles at the balls in its 76-minute running time. We're guided through this world by several of the "House Mothers" that have built a name for themselves. Octavia Saint Laurent, Willi Ninja, Paris Duprée are kind of like gang leaders, only without the violence and battles over turf. Instead, the various members of each House try to "shade," or upstage one another on the dance floor.

I mentioned drag, but the balls depicted in "Paris is Burning" go way beyond drag. Who looks best in a military outfit? Who portrays a gangsta the best? Who can best pull off the corporate type? The student at Harvard? The idea is to make yourself up so you could pass within the outside segment of the population you're trying to emulate. And of course, for many, that means looking like a model. Believe you me, there are some pretty good "women" in this movie.

"Paris Is Burning" is also the movie that introduced the "vogue" style of dancing to the general public. Madonna, who has always brilliantly copped gay themes and sold them to a straight public, later popularized the dance. As one member of the House of Ninja explains it, the dance style took its name from the magazine Vogue and its style from the various models' poses within, but also from the world of break dance, and even Egyptian hieroglyphics. Think about it.

The DVD of "Paris Is Burning" looks good, despite its age and 16mm film source. The film is presented in widescreen, despite the DVD package saying otherwise. Several deleted scenes are included, but they are of poor audio and video quality.

Fifteen years since the movie's release, sad thoughts creep into my head. How many of these people have passed away, either from AIDS or violent persecution? One of them dies in the course of the movie's running time. And did any of them ever break out beyond the fringe? Octavia Saint Laurent says in the film she would like to be known worldwide as an actress or model. She's the only one I could find on the Internet Movie Database listed in another feature film. Her role? Hooker in Car in "The Saint of Fort Washington." Still, for a time, the folks in "Paris Is Burning" found happiness amongst friends and adopted family, and sometimes, they carried away a six-foot tall trophy.

10/12/05

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